The {not so messy} Rice Sensory Play!
Today I needed to find something for Tadpole to do and rice is what I had on hand. Now, contrary to all Montessori Principles, I hate free sensory play when it has the potential to sped all over my house like a disease. I am good with play dough, I love to paint, I will bake all day, but give me a sensory bin that can be spilled a million ways….well let just say my kids have only done it a few times! The fact is I LOVE the idea of sensory bins! They are beautiful, and wonderful, and everything a kid loves! I really wish I was better about it, but I’m not. So today I really tried to think a way to let Tadpole have fun without me having rice ALL OVER MY KITCHEN!!!! So I tried to show him how to play in the bowl only. This work for a bit. He was very deliberate about his movement, but let’s face it, its just more fun to pour it really fast! 🙂 So, in a small stroke of genius, I put him and the bowl of rice on a table cloth in the middle of the kitchen! It was wonderful! The rice stayed mostly on the tablecloth, and Tadpole was able to really experiment with the rice! It turned out really well and when he was done I poured the rice back in the bowl, shook the cloth outside, and swept up the few remaining bits of rice! Perfect way to do rice!
December 16, 2011 @ 9:38 am
Thanks for the tip! I have similar reservations about letting my 2 year old play with rice, dried beans, or anything with similar potential to scatter in all directions. This is a really good solution.
December 16, 2011 @ 10:13 am
I don’t really have a problem at all with letting my child spread the lentils all over the place but that can be because he’s 5 years old and I was dying to see him put his little hands inside anything and enjoy it. I guess different needs get different reactions. By the way, I was looking for information when I found your blog. Do you know any blogs or books or anything that talks about how to apply Montessori methods with children with “development problems”? Sorry for my english, it was a long time since I had to use it. Congratulations for your blog.